It’s not very common that carriers release their own branded devices. Sometimes, however, it happens – Verizon’s Ellipsis 7 launched in November 2013 is one of the best examples. Since the tablet is one year old to the day, it’s not surprising that a successor made an appearance. Called Verizon Ellipsis 8, the tablet which is running on super fast XLTE network is now for sale in carrier’s stores.

Verizon Ellipsis 8 XLTE Tablet

As with most devices, Verizon offers three purchase options. First, you can grab the tablet with a new two-year contract in which case it will set you back $149.99. Second, you can pay $100 more, that is $249.99, and buy the Ellipsis 8 outright with no agreement looming over you for the next 24 months. Finally, you can opt to pay the device off in monthly installments with Verizon Edge for $10.41 per month. Whichever option you choose, the tablet will be shipped to you for free.

The new Ellipsis is bigger than last year’s model. As the name suggests, the tablet has an 8-inch display and offers 1280 x 800 resolution which works out to a pixel density of 189 ppi. All the processing is done by a quad-core 1.5GHz chip of unknown make. Other key features include a 5-megapixel camera and a 5,000 mAh battery which should provide up to 14.5 hours of usage time or up to 288 hours of standby time on one charge.

In addition to Wi-Fi connectivity, the Ellipsis 8 has a SIM-card slot and is XLTE ready which means that it will play nicely with Verizon’s doubling of its LTE bandwidth. The operating system of choice is obviously Android, and it seems to be a pretty clean version we must add. The tablet measures 8.1 x 4.9 inches, weighs 12.07 oz and is available only in black.

Just like the last year’s Ellipsis 7, the new 8-inch model is aimed at users who are looking for portable tablet that offers essential functionality at budget-friendly price. The fact that the device appears to be running a relatively unmodified version of Android only adds to its attractiveness. To sum up, if you need a decent compact tablet and don’t want to pay for a brand, the Ellipsis 8 is waiting for you in Verizon store.